rough notes – not finished
A batwing fairing offers many advantages over a windshield. Because the fairing is shaped better instead of just being a slab of plastic sticking up like a sail, it does a much better job of cutting through the air and deflecting it up, down, and to the sides. This not only offers better protection for your chest, arms, shoulders, and hands, but it greatly reduces the buffeting on the handlebars, and the sail effect caused by passing trucks. The inside surface is not an uninterupted smooth surface like with a windshield, so a fairing that fits tightly around the headlight will greatly reduce that helmet buffeting you refer to. The fairing also moves the windshield closer to the rider, further reducing turbulance behind it. Direct wind on the helmet and face depends on how high of a windshield you put on the fairing.
The fairing also offers the advantage of creating a nice, protected space inside it, allowing for the mounting of speakers, guages, and storage either directly to the fairing or to the handlebars.
But it is still a bolt-on accessory on a motorcycle, so wind buffeting is not completely eliminated. That’s why they sell wind deflectors for them, and lower fairings. For full protection a frame mounted full fairing like that found on a Harley Road Glide offers the best protection. But I found my road glide to be almost unridable in the summer because there was almost no airflow to keep the driver cool. That’s why road glides and goldwings have wind deflectors to push air behing the fairing instead of away from it.
The problem with all of the shields and lowers that I have tried so far is that the lower part is angled the wrong way and so it scoops out a big hole in the air instead of deflecting it.
The Bigshot makes a feeble attempt to correct that at the bottom but it doesn’t quite work…..and the lowers are at a fixed, wrong angle too.
I have the 12″ windshield on mine,I might pick up a smaller screen for Summer local riding someday,only takes a minute or two to swap one out.
I also have the deflector wings attached (comes stock on Classics & Ultras) as well as the wind baffle down in the forks.
Very little buffeting even at 90mph-110mph.
I ditched the hard lowers for a set of vinyl covers that snap on the engine guards (crash bars),only use them if I hit foul weather on a big trip and the fit neatly in the sadsdlebags taking up very little space.
Batwings seem to have become very popular – because they work.
All the stuff I listed came stock on my bike except the added deflector wings which are stock on an Ultra,took all of two minutes to screw them on.
The Batwing has been on Electras since 1975 for a reason and it ain’t a fashion statement.
These little wind deflectors work great.
The Ultra also has the hard lowers,not hard to take off but I prefer the snap on vinyls.
Batwings seem to have become very popular. Must be for a reason.
More popular in Northern states,we get a lot of cold weather and here in Washington a hell of a lot of rain,weather protection is almost a must if you’re not a fair weather only rider and when touring cross country you will hit weather any time of year in the US of A somewhere.
Fashions come and go and batwings are currently in vogue. Is it just form or fashion over function? Only by fitting one can you really judge. As Y2K attests; but then if they have been around for 30 years, why have they become seemingly so much more popular right now?
Because the aftermarket got into the game producing clones for many different bikes,now it’s easy to put one on any cruiser,before one had to adapt a used one from Harley if they could find one.
Is there any reason why the little lower deflectors are not built into the batwing itself?
I think there are two reasons and they kind of go hand in hand.
First and foremost, the deflection angle on the lower part of the shield/fairing is critical for proper air flow……..so you don’t get that rush of air up immediately behind the shield……that then blows up your nose and tries to tear your helmet off at speed.
I think it would be hard to maintain the proper angle without hitting the tank.
A shorter lower mounted at the proper angle is better than a long one at the wrong angle.
Come to think of it, that often applies to the upper part of the shield too.
AND……now that we have been assured that the ones that come as “standard equipment” on the big Harleys do, in fact, work really good for basic wind protection just by themselves (I think that’s what I heard; that lowers and wings really aren’t needed for good basic coverage)……………what about others who have added a batwing to a non-Harley machine ???
Anybody here done that ??
That blue Ultra is my dream bike!
I had an Ultra before my Classic,had more bells and whistles than I wanted lol.
The later model Electras have a new style of deflectors that are hinged so you can get more or less airflow.
Click the pic a couple time to enlarge
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CustomAcces Batwing SML Fairing for Honda Rebel 500 2017-2022
“9 Best Motorcycle Batwing Fairings (Must Read Reviews) For April 2022” https://youngchoppers.com/9-best-motorcycle-batwing-fairings-comparison-reviews/
Not a true review (no pros and cons) but provides some information. “6 Best Motorcycle Batwing Fairing (Review) in 2022 – Gear Sustain” https://gearsustain.com/best-motorcycle-batwing-fairing
“10 Best Motorcycle Batwing Fairings” https://bestmotorcyclelife.com/best-motorcycle-batwing-fairings/
Rebel500 